You've won ... an Internet addiction!

Quest for a lava lamp becomes online auction habit.

What started as one man's quest for a lava lamp has developed into an online auction habit that he incorporates into his daily to-do list.

Chris, 38, spotted a unique lamp on a television show a few years ago and wanted one. His search began on the show's chat board, where he posted a request for information on the lamp. Someone who conducted her own futile search for the same lamp replied to the posting and suggested that he check online-auction sites, especially eBay.

A seller eventually placed the elusive lamp on eBay and, after submitting several bids, Chris won. And developed a penchant for online auction sites.

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What started as one man's quest for a lava lamp has developed into an online auction habit that he incorporates into his daily to-do list.

Chris, 38, spotted a unique lamp on a television show a few years ago and wanted one. His search began on the show's chat board, where he posted a request for information on the lamp. Someone who conducted her own futile search for the same lamp replied to the posting and suggested that he check online-auction sites, especially eBay.

A seller eventually placed the elusive lamp on eBay and, after submitting several bids, Chris won. And developed a penchant for online auction sites.

"It's kind of silly to say I'm hooked on the site, but I check eBay at least twice a day," said Chris, who requested a pseudonym. "If I don't check it in the morning I say, 'Oh, I need to check eBay longer at night now, because I didn't do it this morning'."

While online-auction sites connect buyers to items they may not find in their local stores or that help them complete collections, some users become addicted to such sites. Online-auction site addiction is an example of the greater trend of Internet use disorder.

With the Internet's advent "you just get into some issues that weren't there before," said Dr. Kimberly Young, who founded The Center for Online Addiction. "People are scrambling to get a better understanding of this [Internet addiction]."

Young notes that online auction sites have an element of winning that differentiates them from standard shopping sites. This component as well as clinical symptoms, such as self-esteem problems, may lead to Internet addiction disorder, she said.

Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack, director of the Computer Addiction Studies Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, also discovered these traits in the patients she treats for online-auction site disorder.

"There is always something else going on. Some have social phobia or anxiety or don't feel comfortable in real life. That is like any addictive behavior," Orzack said. "They may win a bid and they get excited."

Orzack conducts clinical interviews with her patients to determine what major issues are going on in their lives.

"If something big is going on in their life they're going to escape," she said. "We talk about other methods of dealing with stress. We reinterpret what is going on in their lives."

Some Internet addicts are lonely and turn to the Web, because there is "a sense of community on the 'Net, a sense of belonging. They're looking for excitement," she said.

Internet use moves from the level of casual surfing to complete addiction when the action dominates and controls a person's life, according to The Center for Online Addiction's Web site. The effect of a person's time on the Internet, not the amount of time spent online, also determines if a person has a 'Net addiction, according to Young's Web site. No single factor defines Internet addiction.

"When there are clinically diagnosed symptoms of addiction that's where you differ from a hobby," Young said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.